You're My Saving Grace
by beautyqueen321
Summary: Madison Yoast was Coach Yoast’s oldest daughter. Called Maddie by her friends, she was very close to the football team as expected and a cheerleader as well. This is her story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing other than Madison and any other characters you don't recognize! Oh and this is my first attempt at fanfiction, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**

**Madison Yoast was Coach Yoast's oldest daughter. Called Maddie by her friends, she was very close to the football team as expected and a cheerleader as well. This is her story.**

Unlike her sister Cheryl, Madison had brown hair with a soft curl. One thing they had in common was their love for their father, and football. Madison had bright blue eyes and a small frame, only standing at about 5'5. When she was younger, she was a tomboy just as Cheryl is now; but now that she was about to graduate high school, she had grown into her femininity, but the spunk she had as a child remained.

In July 1971, because of racial issues, the town was on the verge of exploding. This didn't stop the boys from practicing. They were going after a state championship, and were going to take no prisoners along the way. The schools were integrating and all of the boys were worried about their starting positions so they were practicing harder than ever to ensure that they kept their spots. Madison was watching practice, just as always when she didn't have practice of her own, when Alan Bosley came down towards the fence "Guys, guys, it's coming down at the store, they wannna burn the place up 'cause that colored kid got shot." With that, a bunch of the boys ran off in the direction of town. Madison got in the truck with her father, riding shotgun to head them off before they did anything stupid. When they got back to the office that's when they all saw Herman Boone, the new assistant coach. The school board made the decision to put him on the staff; Coach Yoast did not hire him. Madison stood there, next to Cheryl listening to the conversation being exchanged. She knew Boone had his work cut out for him, but he had some kind of spark, she knew that he was determined.

That afternoon it was announced that Coach Boone would be named head coach. Of course, Cheryl and Madison were there when the news was broken to Coach. Cheryl went ballistic. She started screaming at the man, and then ran off, but not before kicking him in the back of the leg. Madison went after Cheryl, trying to calm her down. "Cheryl, everything is going to be alright. You know as well as I do that Daddy will get plenty of offers from other school districts. We probably won't even have to move. He'll still make it into the Hall of Fame. Don't you worry." Even though she said those words convincingly to Cheryl, Madison wasn't so sure herself if what she said was true. That night, Coach Boone came to the door, Cheryl got to it before she did, and Madison was sure that she was less than pleasant. Both Boone and her father went to his office. Cheryl and Madison went to spy on them. Coach Boone offered her father an assistant head-coaching job.

The next day there was a sort of press conference at Hal's. Many of the players were threatening to sit this season out; Madison knew that doing that would put their futures on the line. Madison was happy to know that the boys were loyal to her father, but she knew that the loyalty could jeopardize everything they had worked so hard for. That day, her father was at his thinking spot, a tree near the office. She and Cheryl went to join him. "You'll be alright coach." "I've coached most of these boys since they were your age; I've seen them grow up in front of my eyes almost like they were my own kids." Madison laid her head on her father's shoulder. "Almost." "This is a heck of a time to be abandoning them to look after themselves, ain't it?" Then at the same time, both Cheryl and Madison said, "So, what are you going to do?" He didn't reply, but just sat there, still thinking. Madison got up and grabbed Cheryl's hand "We'll leave you here to think, just know that we love you and will support any decision you make." they both hugged their father and walked to the house. Later, her father came in the house and got on the phone, beginning to call all of the players who would want to play for Coach Boone if he were to take the assistant head coach job. He told them to meet him by the gym, to go to a meeting. Madison kept Cheryl at home, so that they wouldn't interrupt the meeting, because Cheryl had a problem controlling her mouth.

The morning the boys were to leave for camp, Madison noticed that the groups of people were all segregated. She stood there with her father and Cheryl, before going to greet some of her friends. She went up to Alan first; she was closest to Alan, who was more of a friend while Gerry was more of a big brother type, "Hey Alan!" "Maddie! Are you going to camp with us this year?" "Only for a couple of days. I've got cheerleading camp for the first couple of days, but then I'll be there to pick up Cheryl. I haven't decided, but I might stay the night and leave that next morning." "Oh, well it looks like Coach Boone is going to run us into the ground anyway, but first thing when we get back, don't think you're getting out of our after camp ritual." "I know I know, I'll cook for you boys, as long as I have some help." Then she went over to Gerry and Ray "Hey boys" she hugged Gerry and then Ray, then she looked at them again, "I know that look, don't do anything stupid. I'll see you around." Then Ray started "Wait…" he took her aside "After camp, I was wondering if you'd like to go out to dinner or something with me." She grinned, "Ray Budds, are you asking me out?" "Are you saying yes?" "Sure, it'll be fun." She gave him a warm smile. "I should go back to my Dad, but I'll see you later." "See you Maddie."

Madison walked away to go greet Mrs. Bertier. "Good morning Mrs. Bertier." "Oh good morning Maddie, you look lovely this morning." "Thank you." She was still standing there making small talk when she heard Coach Boone, "Ladies and gentlemen, I've got an announcement to make. We've got Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin going to camp with us this year. Jerry tells the jokes; Dean sings the songs and gets the girls. Let's give them a round of applause." "My word" said Mrs. Bertier "Camp sure is going to be interesting huh?" "It sure is Maddie." "Well I should get back to Daddy." "Goodbye dear." "Bye Mrs. Bertier." When she got back to her father, she whispered, "What are you getting yourself into Daddy?" "Honestly baby, I have no clue." She stood there and watched her friends board the bus, they segregated themselves. Coach Boone got on one of the buses and was furious. He made one bus offensive and one defensive and paired the boys up so that blacks would have to sit with whites, and said that the seatmates would also be roommates. _This is going to be interesting. It's either going to work and they'll all end up friends, or it's going to backfire in his face. _She gave her father a hug and he kissed the top of her head "Bye Daddy, I'll see you in a few days." Then she bent down to Cheryl's height "Bye Cheryl, I'll miss you" she kissed the top of her head and ruffled her blonde hair.

The cheerleaders were segregated just like the football team. Madison thought it would be easier for them to come together, because boys are more stubborn. She was right. It was rough for the first day, but they soon had fun dancing and carrying on like old friends. The black girls taught the white girls some new cheers and some dances and the white girls taught the black girls tumbling and stunting. They knew that the combination of those things would make their squad be the best of both worlds. One day at camp, the girls were just talking amongst themselves at lunch. "So guess who asked me out" said Maddie to her friend Jenny "Who?" "Ray Budds." "Did you say yes?" "Well, yeah. I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Besides, it could be fun." "I thought you were going to say Alan asked you… I mean you two are awfully close." "Well, we're friends. Best friends. Jeez, you kiss a guy once during a dumb game of spin the bottle in like ninth grade and you never live it down." They just giggled.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter. I am glad to have such a positive response to my first attempt at fanfiction! Oh, and I kind of pictured Maddie to look like Alexis Bledel, but like she did in _Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants_ just so you have a visual reference.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the characters you don't recognize.**

**Chapter 2**

The next day she drove to Gettysburg College to visit her father at camp and pick up Cheryl. She knew it was time for lunch so she went into the mess hall and walked right in channeling Audrey Hepburn with her outfit, jeans, a white button up, pearls, and flats. She walked straight to her dad "Hey Coach" she hugged him. "Who is that?" asked Julius "That's Yoast's other daughter, Maddie. She always comes to camp for a day or two." "Here she comes." She walked over, "Hey Gerry, can you give me some room? And your pudding?" she grinned. "Sure Maddie." He went around the table introducing her to the new players, then he got up "Hey Maddie, come here will ya? I have to ask you something." "Sure, what is it?" "Ray was talking about asking you out, did you say yes?" "Well, yeah. Why?" "I mean, he's my friend and all, but I don't think you should go with him." "Well why?" "Well, because, well he has a reputation for… just don't go ok?" "Gerry, I can take care of myself." With that, she walked away and went towards Alan, "Introduce me to some of the new players before I slap Gerry?" she asked nonchalantly, he looked at her questioningly "Ok… no problem." He went around introducing her to Blue, Petey, Rev, Louie, and Sunshine. She smiled at them "Ok so I assume Sunshine is a nickname for something, your hair maybe?" "I don't know, either that or because I'm from California. But my real name is Ronnie, Ronnie Bass" She took a seat next to him, not noticing Ray's evil glare. "Wow, California. That's awesome. What's it like there?" He continued to explain about his home state. "So what brings you here anyway?" "My dad got a transfer, so here I am. He's in the service." Ray had enough of seeing Maddie flirting somewhat with Sunshine so he came over and interrupted them, "Maddie, can I talk to you?" She looked at Sunshine, "Well it was really nice to meet you, but I should probably go. I'll see you around." She shot him a warm smile and walked away with Ray. "Hi, so… what did you need to talk to me about?" "Well, I…" she could tell that he was looking for something to say, when he gave his rushed answer "I wanted to tell you that I am looking forward to our date." She squeezed his upper arm "That's sweet, Ray." "When are you leaving to go back home?" "Early tomorrow morning, probably the same time that you guys have to get up, that's when we'll get up to leave." "Well do you maybe want to meet me on the roof of the dorms tonight at midnight? I'll bring some pudding." She smiled "Sure." Gerry saw their exchange and knew something was up, and he knew that he would get to the bottom of it.

Gerry asked Alan to find out what was going on between Madison and Ray. So, at about 8:30 Madison heard a knock at her door. She opened it up "Hey Alan, come on in. What brings you here?" "Oh I was just seeing what you thought about everything today… and why you were so upset with Gerry." "Well, I loved everyone; I think that you guys have a great team this year, probably the best I've ever seen. And Gerry, well he's trying to make decisions for me, and I don't like that." "Decisions about what?" she motioned for him sit on the bed next to her. "I'm going on a date with Ray." "Well I can understand his concern, but I know that if you have any problems, you can handle it, or get some help." She leaned her head on his shoulder "I'm supposed to meet him on the roof at midnight." "Who? Gerry?" "No, Ray." "Well do you need an excuse to get out of it?" "No, I'm going; I'm just worried that Gerry will be really mad at me for it." He sighed "Don't worry about him, I'll talk to him. And if Ray gives you any trouble at all, you know he'll have to answer to all of us." "Thanks Alan." Alan grinned, "Besides…you should have seen the faces on some of the new guys when you walked in, priceless." She grinned, "So how has camp been, anything exciting?" "Well at first we didn't get along, but somehow we all came together. Louie announced to all of us that Blue likes to wear leopard spotted bikini underwear, we all sang in the locker room, oh and Sunshine kissed Gerry." Madison nearly choked on that last one, "What, he kissed Gerry? Why?" "Well, when Sunshine first got here, he had really long hair, like yours. Gerry called him a fruitcake, and I guess he just wanted to mess with his head a little. It was pretty funny if you ask me." "Sounds like it, I wish I were there to have seen that."

That night on the roof, Ray was sitting there when Madison walked up to him. "Hey" she said, "Hey, have a seat." Little did the two of them know Gerry, Alan, and Julius were spying on them. Ray handed her some pudding with a spoon "Here, just as promised." She smiled at him, "Thanks Ray." "Anytime." He kissed her cheek; from their hiding spot, Alan and Julius had to hold Gerry back. Madison had gotten a little pudding on her lip and Ray said, "Uh Maddie, you missed your mouth a little, here, I'll get it." He leaned in, kissed her, and deepened the kiss right off the bat. Madison pushed him away, "Stop it Ray." "Oh come on baby nobody will see us, besides it's just a kiss." Gerry was seeing red, but was glad that Madison was handling herself. Ray tried a few more times to kiss her, and she pushed him away and finally got up and left, storming down toward her room, tears welled up in her eyes.

The next morning she said goodbye to everyone, well everyone but Ray, hugging most of those that she had just met, as well as hugging her friends. While they were hugging Alan asked, "So, how'd it go?" knowing well the answer, but wanting to make sure that she didn't know they were spying, "I'll tell you about it later." Then she went up to Coach Boone, "Bye Coach Boone, work them hard these last few days." she grinned. After saying goodbye to the other two coaches she went to her father, "Bye Daddy, I miss you already."

When everyone got back she was the first to greet her dad running up to him and giving him a huge hug. "I'm going to rush back to the house and I've got to start cooking. The boys have already been asking me about the annual spaghetti dinner." He smiled, "I'm sure they have, you run back to the house and I'm sure they'll all go change clothes then take over our house." "I'll see you later, Daddy, I'm glad you're home." With that, she grabbed Cheryl's hand and led her to the car for the short drive home. Once they arrived, Madison immediately got to work in the kitchen, setting some water to boil and making the famous Yoast spaghetti sauce. She had just put the bread in the oven when she heard the first knock on the door. She walked over to answer it and saw that it was Gerry, Julius, Petey, Sunshine, Blue, Louie, and Rev. They all gave her big bear hugs as they came in the door. Gerry offered to help in the kitchen, and Madison accepted knowing the only reason he wanted to help was to fish for information about her and Ray. To avoid his questions for at least a minute, Madison asked Gerry "Hey, I don't think I'm going to have enough to drink for everyone, would you mind making some more sweet tea?" "Sure," he replied, and set some water to boil, placing some tea bags in it. She knew what was coming next "So what was the deal with you and Ray? You didn't say goodbye to him or anything when you left." "Gerry, I know you're looking out for me, and I appreciate it, I really do. But I need to make my own mistakes sometimes, and this was one of them. You were right, Ray did want me for anything but… well you know." She felt the tears spring to her eyes and he wrapped her in a hug, "Don't worry about him, I'll take care of him." "Gerry, don't ok, don't do anything that will jeopardize your spot on the team." She pulled away when the teapot started hissing and she poured the hot tea into a pitcher, added some sugar and filled the rest with water.

By the time the food was finished, all of the usual boys had arrived, Alan and some others had shown up as well; Ray was nowhere to be seen, and Madison was relieved at that. Madison had gotten the boys to set up picnic tables in the back yard and used one to set the food out and had the boys sit at all of the others. When they were finished with the spaghetti, the Hammond players knew what was next, dessert, Madison's homemade cakes and cookies and some ice cream. The other boys had started to get up when Madison stood on a table and cleared her throat. "Boys, where are you going? A dinner isn't a real dinner without dessert. Now who wants to help me bring it out here?" Sunshine, Alan, Julius, and Gerry all elected to help bring out the desserts and set them on the table. Madison grabbed a cookie knowing that nothing would be left in the end. After everyone was sufficiently full, they had the annual game of football.

When Gerry and Julius were picked as captains, Madison knew it was going to be a good game right away. She also knew that the new boys probably didn't realize that she was playing. When Gerry called her name first and she saw the shocked expressions on the faces of the new boys, she knew it was going to be an interesting game. She ended up having Alan, Louie, and Petey on her team as well as some of the other boys. The game was supposed to be two hand touch, but, like always it ended up being tackle. After they had been playing for a while, the team went into a huddle Gerry spoke, "Maddie, I want you to get Sunshine, just follow him. He's pretty fast." "Ok Gerry." When they broke the huddle, Madison lined up across from Sunshine. When the team snapped the ball and handed it off to him, Madison was ready. She ran after him and jumped on his back and caused him to fall and drop the ball. She jumped up and extended her hand with a grin and helped pull him up.

Since her team recovered the fumble, they now had the ball. In the huddle Madison spoke, "Gerry, throw the ball to me, you know I'm a good catch." "Ok, they won't be expecting that." They broke the huddle and Madison got on the line with her team, again Sunshine was across from her, she figured he wanted revenge. This would be the last play of the game because it was getting too dark to play. When the ball was snapped, Madison tore off running, her feet pounding the grass. She turned around to look for the ball, it was coming towards her. She stretched out her hands and she didn't see Sunshine running up to her, all of a sudden she was on the ground and he was on top of her in a push up position. She looked up at him noticing for the first time his full lips and the way his hair fell in his face just so. He looked at her, seeing her brown hair fanned out on the ground behind her head, he saw that when her lips were slightly parted her teeth could be seen barely peeking out, the spray of freckles across her cheeks that were too light to be seen from afar, just as he was noticing her long eyelashes that framed her bright blue eyes he heard a wolf whistle from Petey. "I'd say Maddie needs a little Sunshine in her life." Maddie blushed furiously. Sunshine got up and pulled her up as well. Shortly after, Sunshine kept thinking to himself about the "moment" he and Madison had shared, he knew that he didn't know her, but she was different… he noticed the day she met him that she was different than other girls he had met before, that there was more to her that most girls, more that he definitely wanted to get to know.

As part of the tradition, Alan stayed to help clean up after all of the boys had left. "So what happened with you and Ray?" She bit her bottom lip absentmindedly, "On the roof that night he tried to kiss me, and I said no. He didn't listen. It's my fault, I should have listened to you guys." He hugged her, rubbing her back knowing his best friend enough to know she was fighting off tears, "It wasn't your fault, you needed to make your own mistake. Besides… you and Sunshine" he trailed off. She splashed some water from the sink at him "You shut up." This progressed into an all out war with both of them soaked. "Alan?" she asked, "Hmm?" came his reply. "Do you think we'll all still be friends after this year, I mean we'll all be parting ways." she looked at him seriously and he replied, "Maddie, we'll always be friends, always." "Alan?" she asked again. "Hmm?" he replied. "Can you believe this is our last year in high school? Our last homecoming, our last chance to win state, our last prom…" she trailed off, "Don't go getting all weepy now" he said and started singing, "I know you wanna leave me, but I refuse to let you go" she couldn't help but grin and laugh at his singing and crazy singing and dancing. He grabbed her hands and started pulling her around the kitchen with him before picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder and spinning around until she squealed out loud.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm trying to work out my spacing issues to make it a little easier to read, let me know if this is better or not. Sorry it took so long, I've been swamped with school and everything, it's been crazy.**

Soon came the first day of school. Madison woke up bright and early and took a shower before waking Cheryl, who was not a morning person. After fighting with her little sister for a while on why she couldn't wear jeans to school, she fixed her hair then braided Cheryl's hair as well.

She was putting on some light make up when her father walked by the door "Morning Daddy,"

"Morning sweetheart," he said with a warm smile.

Madison was a little nervous about the first day of school, it was more than normal first day jitters. Starting school this year would be a totally different experience, she had never been in an integrated classroom. Madison knew that things were going to be tough, but she had no idea that it was going to be this tough.

As Madison approached the school, she saw picketers and police everywhere. She got out of the car and scanned the crowd for a familiar face.

She spotted Gerry and Julius first. "Hey boys, some day huh? Hey Emma."

She watched at Gerry tried to introduce Emma to Julius and was disheartened when she stalked off in the other direction.

She shot Julius a sympathetic glance. "I hate to tell you, but that's probably going to happen a lot. But don't worry, I promise it will get better. I'll see you two later."

With that she walked off to try and go into the school. When she was approaching the doors she saw Sunshine. "Sunshine!" she called over the angry protestors.

He stopped and turned around and cracked a smile when he saw her approaching, "Hey, how are you this morning?" he asked.

Madison decided to make light of the situation, "Well if you don't count the fact that I was nearly trampled by protestors, I'm fine. And you?"

He looked down at her and gave a warm smile, "I'm better now that I've found a kind face among all of the angry ones."

She blushed a little and smiled, "Well, uh we should probably go inside" she stuttered.

While fighting their way through the masses into the school, Madison heard someone taunt Sunshine, "We don't need you here either, hippy boy." Then another, "Did you hear what he said?"

Madison knew those guys and decided to take a stand against them, knowing that they wouldn't dare say anything to her for fear of the backlash from the football team, she grabbed Sunshine's hand, "Come on Ronnie, let's go inside."

Once inside, Sunshine turned to her, "Since when do you call me Ronnie?"

She grinned, "Well did you really want me to call you Sunshine?"

He gave a little chuckle, "Good point."

"Sunshine? There's been something that I have wanted to ask you." She said biting her bottom lip.

"Ok, what is it?" He said, furrowing his eyebrows.

She leaned in and whispered, "Did you really kiss Gerry at camp?"

When she backed away she noticed his smile and a slight blush.

"Yeah, I did… but only because he called me a fruitcake first."

She grinned, "Come on, let's get you to class."


	4. Chapter 4

**See first chapter for Disclaimer**

**I felt bad about the last chapter being so short, so hopefully this makes up for it. Who do you think Madison should end up with? Let me know because I'm just writing this as I go along. **

The first few days of school went without many major disruptions, and soon came the first football game. Madison could feel the excitement in the air around the small town. While she was cheering, she noticed that the stands were segregated, whites on one side and blacks on the other. _It figures, hopefully the team will bring them together_, she thought to herself. She wished she could have been in the locker room to hear Boone's pre game pep talk to the team, she always loved listening to her father give them, and she knew that Coach Boone would give really good ones as well.

The game didn't start that great, Alan had trouble following his man. Madison couldn't help but laugh as she heard Cheryl in the stands screaming out at the boys and pacing back and forth.

When the Hawks made their first touchdown of the night, Madison yelled out to the team, "That's ok boys, tighten up!"

Then Madison watched as Coach Boone took Petey out of the game for missing a block. She noticed her father following him over to the bench. _Something is up; he's got something up his sleeve_. She watched as he put his hand on Petey's shoulder and became more curious about what was going on. Then she saw Petey go in and take Alan's spot.

She leaned over to Jenny, "What is going on, he's taking Alan out and putting Petey in? Petey has never practiced with the defense. Mr. Bosley is going to be pissed."

About that time, Madison heard him yelling from the stands, "Yoast, don't you take my boy out. Yoast!"

She watched as Cheryl tried to defend their father's actions, "He's getting beat like he stole something Mr. Bosley."

Mr. Bosley turned to her, "You just stay out of it girl."

Cheryl just replied, "He's just getting beat, that's all I'm saying." But it didn't get Mr. Bosley to change his mind, he yelled at Coach Yoast a few more times as the boys moved up to the line of scrimmage.

The hawks snapped the ball and Petey knocked it away. Everyone in the crowd cheered. Madison couldn't help but grin. Yelling out to Petey and the team. Then Petey made some more great tackles and recovered a fumble for a touchdown that led to the win.

After the game, Madison went with the boys, just like she always had. They went downtown to celebrate.

"Yeah! The Titans are here and we aint going no where y'all!" she heard Petey call out to nobody in particular. She couldn't help but grin at his antics.

She was walking in the back with Julius, Alan, and Gerry, trying to comfort Alan as best she could. "Don't worry about it Alan, you did the best you could."

Then Gerry chimed in, "Yeah don't worry about it man, they like to celebrate that's all."

Julius got offended, "What do you mean they?" _Here we go again_, though Madison.

"I mean they, them up there." said Gerry.

"But what you mean by they, you're talking about Petey." Julius said pointing up ahead.

"You're you and they are they." Gerry countered.

Just then, Emma and Ray pulled up with some others, "Gerry, we're heading over the hill why don't you come with us."

Madison watched as Gerry walked over to the car and stuck close to Alan, "Please say you don't want to go with them," she whispered pleading with Gerry, but knowing only Alan could hear her. Alan reached down and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

She looked at Alan, "It's just that if he goes, I'll have to go with him, and Ray… and Gerry is my ride home. But I don't want to go if Ray is there, because… well you know."

Alan nodded, "Don't worry Maddie, if he goes I'll take you home. No problem. As long as you don't mind listening to my music." he said lightening the mood with a little joke.

Madison laughed a little, "As long as you're singing I don't care." Alan grinned.

Madison watched as Petey started yelling at Sunshine and then walked off with all of the black boys. They had segregated themselves again. Sunshine walked off ahead of the others slightly and Madison knew that something was bothering him. She looked at Alan without words telling him she was going to go see what was wrong.

"Hey Sunshine," she said.

"Hey Maddie," he answered dejectedly.

"What happened back there?" she asked.

"I tried to go in there to get something to eat, I didn't know Maddie, I swear I didn't know," he replied.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be cooled off by tomorrow," she tried to reassure him. "Hey, I know what will cheer you up; well it cheers me up all the time anyway."

He gave a little grin, "What?"

She smiled widely, "Wait just a second," and ran back to Gerry.

"Hey Gerry, would it be ok with you if Sunshine takes me home, he's pretty upset about what went down with Petey and I know exactly how to fix it… or at least I think I do," she bit her lip waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, that's ok. But first I need to have a little talk with him," he said.

"Gerry, I swear if this is the talk that I think it is, just don't ok?" she glared at him, but he ignored her and went up to Sunshine.

"Sunshine, so you're going out to do something with Maddie," he said.

Sunshine wasn't quite sure where he was going with that, "Yeah, but she won't tell me where or what we're doing."

Gerry put on a serious tone, "Listen, you're my friend. But Maddie is special, if you do anything…"

Sunshine cut him off, "I know, Gerry, I know. Don't worry." And offered his hand for a shake.

Gerry took it and shook it, "Good, as long as we understand each other."

Madison walked back up to Sunshine, smacking Gerry in the arm on her way up and whispering, "I can't believe you" in passing.

She blushed, "Sorry about that, he really means well."

Sunshine grinned, "Yeah."

"So, let's go back to your car, and I'll give you directions from there."

Her directions lead them to a football field, not the one with the stadium, but the one where the little kids play. She grinned getting out of the car and running out onto the familiar grass and to the middle of the field. She motioned for him to join her.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"What time is it?" she said in reply.

He looked down at his watch, "It's 9:55."

She smiled, "Perfect."

He raised an eyebrow, curious at what she may have meant. "Why is this your favorite place?"

"The boys used to play here when they were kids in the pee-wees, It was the first field I'd ever cheered on. There's just so much history here, in July when they shoot off the fireworks, you can see them perfectly from here. This place is just awesome," she said looking at the sky.

"Well what…" but he was cut off as the sprinklers cut on.

She smiled as the water began to soak her hair and clothes, "That's what, now come and catch me!"

She tore off running for the other side of the field slipping slightly on the wet grass. He ran after her slipping a little himself laughing as he got soaked. When he finally caught up with her, he grabbed her around the waist and picked her up, flinging her over his shoulder. He started to spin in circles, both of them laughing the entire time. Her hands pounding his back.

"Put me down, put me down! I'll tell Gerry!" she squealed, joking on the last part.

He set her down and brushed some wet hair out of her face, "Oh, I'm shaking in my boots," he grinned.

She smiled, "You should be, but I should probably be getting back. It's pretty late."

"Well I guess we're walking, because there's no way our wet butts are getting in my car," he said trying to keep a straight face.

"Wha… but it's nearly five miles!"

He laughed and she smacked his chest, "Oh you… you tricked me," she said pointing a finger at his chest accusingly.

They made their way back towards the car. He noticed how her dark hair was growing wavy and curly because it was wet. He saw how her fair skin seemed to glow in the moonlight and how her wet clothes clung to her figure in all the right ways to get his attention. He ran up behind her, scooped her up bridal style, and started running to the car. When they finally got there, he put her down and moved to open the door for her, but she moved so she was in his way.

"So, was I right, did I cheer you up?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.

He grinned, "Yeah, yeah you did. Thanks."

He reached down and brushed some wet hair off her face, his hand lingering longer than it should have. But he knew he shouldn't do anything, it just wouldn't be right. So he just cleared his throat.

"Let's get you in the car and turn some heat on, you must be cold. You might have to remind me how to get to your house," he said as she moved away from the door and he opened it.

The ride back to her house was comfortably silent although Madison couldn't help but think that they may have kissed. It was almost like he was going to, but then he changed his mind at the last minute. When they arrived back at Madison's house she noticed that her father's car was in the driveway. But when she looked over, she saw the light was on in the office so that meant he was out there.

"I had a lot of fun Ronnie," she said softly.

He smiled at the sound of his real name on her lips, "Me too."

Feeling a little bold she leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Pulling away she saw the surprise written all over his face and she smirked a little. "Bye Ronnie, I'll see you tomorrow."

She got out of the car and walked up to her front door before turning around to give a small wave. He stayed in her driveway until he saw that she got inside the house safely. When she was out of his sight, he pulled out and headed home, his hand unconsciously going to the warm spot on his cheek where her lips had been.


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, so here's the new chapter... sorry I'm taking so long to update... I know how much I hate to wait for updates and I feel horrible for making you wait, but with school I have no choice.**

**Anyway, now it's time for your input. I've had some requests for who Madison should end up with, but I wanted to ask all of you readers. One person has said Alan, and another has said Sunshine... what do you think? Please let me know in a review!**

**Thanks everyone for reading, putting this on alert, favoriting it, and thanks so much for all of the reviews. They all really keep me going and are really encouraging. Now on with the new chapter, I hope you enjoy!**

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Madison got up to her room thanking God that her dad was in his office. He would surely have a fit if he saw her walking in the house in wet clothes at this hour. She was glad that she didn't have to explain to him why Sunshine brought her home instead of Gerry or Alan. She quickly changed into her pajamas and put her hair in a messy ponytail at the top of her head before going down to her father's office.

She knocked on the door before walking in, "Hey Daddy."

"Hey sweetheart, did you have fun after the game?" he asked getting up to give her a hug.

"Yeah. Great move putting Petey in by the way, Alan was getting beat for sure," she said with a small smile. But when she thought about Alan, her heart sank a little. She felt horrible for leaving him to go off with Sunshine like that. Alan would never do anything like that to her. There was only one thing she could do. She faked a yawn, "Well Daddy, I'm pretty tired."

"I was just about to go back to the house and go to bed myself," he said.

"I'll wait and walk with you Daddy." Her plan was working perfectly.

As soon as she knew her Dad was asleep, she climbed out her window, still dressed in her pajamas. She silently prayed to herself that Alan would still be awake and that his parents would be asleep. It was a short walk to Alan's house; his family's property touched hers so she didn't have to go too far. She went around to the side of the house and looked to the second floor to see Alan's light still on. "Thank God," she whispered to herself. She picked up a few pebbles and threw them at his window, willing him to notice and to get up.

He opened the window, "Maddie, what are you doing here?" he asked in a loud whisper.

"I need to talk to you," she whispered back, climbing up the tree that was next to his window, and climbing into his bedroom and sitting on his bed.

He raised an eyebrow, "Ok… and this couldn't wait until morning because…"

"Alan I feel horrible about leaving you tonight, it's just that I think I might like Sunshine and he felt bad about what happened at the restaurant and…"

"It's ok Maddie, don't worry about it," he said patting her on the back in reassurance.

"No it's not Alan, you're my best friend and I should have been there for you. I'm sorry, really sorry. Forgive me?"

He smiled, "Absolutely. Now tell me what happened with Sunshine so I can tell Gerry if he needs to beat him up or not."

She grinned, "Well he was really upset about what happened, so when I'm like that I like to go…"

"To the old pee-wee field," Alan said cutting her off

"Right," she said and then continued, "And we got there at perfect timing, the sprinklers came on and everything." She smiled remembering how Sunshine had picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.

"That would explain why your hair is wet," Alan said. "But did anything… happen?" he said raising an eyebrow.

"Alan Bosley, you're just as bad as the girls I cheer with…," she said playfully smacking him in the chest.

He grabbed her hands, "Oh come on, just tell me… please?"

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, when we were leaving I thought we were going to kiss, but it's almost like he chickened out at the last minute. But he was such a gentleman Alan, he opened the doors for me and all that…"

"So nothing happened?" Alan asked.

"Well I did kiss his cheek before I got out of the car, but that's it. And I mean, it's not a big deal, I kiss your cheek and Gerry's too," she said. Then she looked around a little, "Alan, have you changed your room around? It looks different."

He just laughed, "Yes I have, and you need to go home before Coach realizes you've snuck out again. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What are we doing tomorrow?" She asked.

He yawned, "I don't know Maddie but I'll pick you up ok?"

She smiled, "You're the best Alan!" and wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'll see you later."

"Be careful going out the window and going home," he warned her.

"I will." She waved and disappeared into the night.

That next day, the boys and Madison decided to go to the lake. This was nothing out of the ordinary- for as long as she could remember, Madison had been going to the lake with Gerry, Alan, and Ray. This time, however, was different. Ray was obviously not welcome, and others, namely Julius, Blue, Rev, Louis, Petey, and, of course, Sunshine came along.

Madison was still getting ready. She slipped on her bikini and put a sundress on over it. She grabbed a bag and placed a towel and a blanket in it before heading down to the living room to wait for Alan. When she heard the honking of a horn from her driveway, she shouted a farewell to her father before running out to Alan's truck.

She smiled as he reached over to open the door for her. "Hey Alan" she said, sliding in and buckling her seatbelt.

"Hey there Maddie-Bear" he grinned.

"Maddie Bear?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I have no idea. It rhymed though," he said laughing.

She laughed with him, "You're crazy. You know that?"

He smiled, "But that's why you love me."

They poked fun at each other the whole way there. She would call him "chicken legs" and he would call her "string bean". That was just the way they were, all jokes and laughter, but they were always there for each other.

"So how about it with you and Sunshine?" he asked after one of his favorite songs had finished.

"It sure is a nice day for a swim. I love the lake," she said as if it were the answer to his question.

"Whoa there, way to change the subject" he said, acting out pulling back the reins of a horse.

"It's just that there's really not much more to tell, I told you everything last night. But what about you? Any lovin' for Al?" she grinned.

He playfully batted his eyelashes at her, "Oh come on Maddie, you know I only have eyes for you."

When they arrived at the lake, everyone was already there. "What took you so long?" Gerry asked.

At the same time, the two of them said:

"She took too long to get ready."

"Alan had to fix his hair."

Of course the team knew that the lateness was because of the both of them.

Before she knew what was happening, Gerry had picked her up- still clothed in her sundress over her bikini- threw her over his shoulder, and started sprinting to the dock to jump into the water.

Madison was beating on his back, "Gerry Bertier, I swear if you jump in the water with me still in this dress I'll, I'll…"

"You'll what, sweet cheeks?" he said with his trademark playful grin.

She put on a serious face, "I'll make sure daddy makes you run twice as much at practice."

At the mention of extra laps, he set her down. She walked back over to her bag and pulled her dress off over her head. Then she stretched her arms above her head, shifting slightly from side to side to stretch before turning around to face the boys again while putting her hair up in a high ponytail.

"So am I going to have to get in the water by myself or is someone going to join me?" She asked the boys. "And are we grilling for lunch?"

Gerry came up and grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder and running to the dock before jumping into the water. Sure enough, all of the boys followed suit.

Upon surfacing, Gerry replied, "And yes- I'm grilling burgers. And yes- Mom did pack pickles and white American cheese just for you."

She grinned, "Tell your mom she's a saint for remembering."

Then he turned and whispered in her ear, "So, chicken fight? We do need to uphold our title."

She grinned, "Absolutely."

"Alright fellas, time for a chicken fight, any challengers?" Gerry called to the team before dunking under the water so Madison could get on his shoulders.

"Alan, wanna try to end your losing streak, or are you too scared?" she asked grinning widely.

"Oh, I'll take your challenge String Bean," he replied.

The boys paired off with the teams being Sunshine and Blue, Alan and Julius, Petey and Louie, and Rev would be the referee.

Gerry and Madison took on Alan and Julius first. Madison knew this match wouldn't last too long because she knew Alan's weak spot. When Rev shouted, "GO" Maddie and Alan locked arms and she secured her legs around Gerry to make sure she wouldn't fall. Suddenly, she pulled her arms from Alan's grasp and started poking him in the ribs and stomach, tickling him knowing that when he started squirming there would be no way that Julius could hold him. Sure enough, seconds later he fell into the water with a splash.

"You play dirty Yoast," said Alan, grinning.

"Yeah, but I've been using the same trick on you for years now and you still lose," she said sticking out her tongue.

"Alright boys, who's next?" Gerry asked.

Petey laughed, "Consider your winning streak over."

When the match started, Gerry noticed that Petey's legs weren't secured around Louie as they should be. He pushed up hard on Petey's feet and Petey fell backwards, the match ending in less than half a minute.

"Well Petey, it looks like the streak isn't a streak after all." Madison teased.

"That was just luck that's all." He tried to defend himself.

Now it was Sunshine's turn. Madison had an idea of what she should do.

"Time out!" she called.

She took Gerry aside to form a strategy.

"Gerry, I have an idea. Get in really close. This one is going to be hard because he has really good balance, I say go for Blue." She said talking with her hands

"You got it champ," he joked wrapping an arm around her shoulders and messing up her hair.

She once again positioned herself on Gerry's shoulders, again securing her legs. When Rev said go, Gerry moved in close, pushing on Blue's shoulders. Madison locked her arms with Sunshine's biting her bottom lip in concentration. This match was by far the hardest ever, but Gerry pulled through in the end, pushing Blue causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards sending Sunshine back with him.

"Yeah!" Madison yelled from Gerry's shoulders flexing her muscles.

"How about that fellas?" Gerry shouted flexing his much bigger muscles.

He extended his arms to help Madison stand on his shoulders. She did a swan dive off and swam underwater until she was right behind Sunshine and reached up and dunked him under the water.

"Hey, what was that about?" he sputtered.

She grinned, giggling, "Just felt like it," and swam away.

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily," he said in a jokingly evil voice. Grabbing her by the waist and throwing himself backward so that both of them went under.

Madison felt her stomach growl. "Gerry, are you going to grill yet? I'm starved," she complained after she and Sunshine had called a truce in the dunking war.

"I'm on it," he said, getting out of the water to light the grill.

"Don't forget to toast the buns!" She reminded him.

"Yes mother," he joked.

While waiting for the coals to get hot, they decided to play a game of football. Madison, Gerry, Blue, and Alan were on one team leaving the other team as Sunshine, Rev, Julius, Louie, and Petey. Naturally, Gerry and Julius were the captains.

"Alright, we're outnumbered but we've got this. Alan, you block Rev. Blue, you deal with Louie. We'll all have to get Petey. Now, we've got the ball first, so Madison you get open and I'll throw it to you, I want you to line up in front of Sunshine," Gerry said coaching the team.

When they got on the line, Madison knew this was going to be a tough match. She faced Sunshine.

"So we meet again," he said grinning.

"Looks like it Sunshine," she winked.

When the ball was hiked, Madison ran into Sunshine bumping him out of the way before running to get open. Right when she caught the ball, Sunshine tackled her, sending both of them to the ground.

He leaned in close and whispered in a husky voice, "I like it better when you call me Ronnie."

She could barely form words, "Kay." She whispered back before he helped her up smirking.

After a few more plays, it was time to start grilling. Madison spread a huge blanket out on the ground so everyone would have a place to sit. She set condiments and other burger stuff in the center of the blanket. Soon the burgers were finished and everyone was eating.

"These are delicious Gerry. Thank you!" Madison said.

"Well consider it repayment for the after camp dinner," he replied.

"So does this mean all of you will be cooking for me?" she joked looking at the boys.

After eating, they decided it was time to go home because they were all so tired from playing in the water. Madison stood and slipped her dress over her head.

"So, who's gonna take me home?" she asked.


	6. Chapter 6

**See first chapter for disclaimer.**

**So I'm not really all that happy with this chapter, but I wanted to show Madison's relationship with Alan and Gerry a little more. But after this chapter, I think I'm going to follow the movie a little and add in some extra stuff like before. I already have ideas about stuff way in the future, I just kind of have fill in the stuff in the middle. Anyway, as always, feedback is greatly appreciated! **

"I will," said Sunshine and she gave him a warm smile.

"Thanks," she said, still smiling.

After they had said their goodbyes and Madison had gotten hugs from everyone, they left. They were on the way to her house when Sunshine suddenly turned around heading back towards town.

"Ronnie, what are you doing?" she asked, looking at his smiling face.

"I want some ice cream," he stated as if it were a well-known fact.

Not one to ever turn down ice cream she replied, "Oh, well then, ice cream is great."

When he pulled up he asked, "So what do you want?"

She grinned, "Vanilla with Oreos and hot fudge."

"Yes ma'am," he replied, giving her a mock salute.

He pressed the button and the attendant came out on roller skates.

"What can I get you kids?" she asked.

"A hot fudge sundae, no nuts for me and a vanilla ice cream with Oreos and hot fudge for the lady," he said, pointing at Madison.

"Well aren't you two just the cutest couple ever?" she commented.

Madison was sure her face turned ten shades of red. She looked over at Sunshine and noticed he was blushing too. When they got their ice cream, the sat there eating it in comfortable silence with music playing softly from the car radio.

"So um…" Maddie started, but stopped when she heard Sunshine laugh. "What?" she asked puzzled.

"You have ice cream on you… here, let me get it." He brought his hand up to her face and used his thumb to brush some ice cream off of her bottom lip. Instead of returning his hand to his spoon, he just kept it on her face and started leaning in, when they were mere centimeters apart; the attendant came out.

"You two need anything else?" she asked, interrupting anything they had going on.

"No, we're good thanks," he replied, silently cursing her for interrupting their almost kiss.

Sunshine paid the attendant and when they had finished their ice cream, he drove Madison home. He was too bummed about being interrupted earlier to try anything again, and plus he didn't want her father to come out and catch them for fear of how he might react.

"So…" Madison started, fiddling her hands in her lap.

"So I'll see you at school Monday?" Sunshine supplied.

Madison let out a sigh, "Yeah, I'll see you Monday. Bye Ronnie," she said before getting out of the car and walking to her door.

Sunshine waited to pull away until he saw that she got safely inside her house, he didn't really know why he did it. It was the evening, sure, but it was still early, only after 6:00 or so. When he drove away and finally got to his driveway, he just sat in the car and rested his head against the steering wheel, frustrated.

The next day before church, Madison was getting ready and fussing with her sister over her hair as usual.

"Oh come on Cheryl, let me brush it so that you can wear it down. It looks so pretty when it's down." She pleaded.

"No, it'll hurt, I'll just wear it in pigtails," she replied with her hands placed firmly on her hips.

"Fine, but next Sunday, you have to wear it down, no fussing allowed," Madison finally conceded before going to finish getting ready.

Madison settled on a simple navy blue wrap skirt with a pale blue tank top and cap-sleeve cardigan to go with it. She fixed her hair and applied some light makeup before fixing Cheryl's hair and heading downstairs to make some toast and eggs to ensure that nobody's stomach would growl during service. After they had eaten, Madison, Cheryl, and their father all loaded up into the car and headed to church.

Once they got there, Madison saw that Alan was waiting next to her father's normal parking spot, undoubtedly for her.

She hopped out of the car, "Hey Alan," she grinned.

"Hey Maddie," he bent down and gave one of Cheryl's pigtails a tug, "How's my favorite girl?"

Cheryl grinned, "Good, how are you?"

He picked her up and swung her around in a circle, "Awesome."

"Hey Alan," Madison heard her father say.

"Hey coach."

After their friendly greetings, Alan linked his arm with Madison's and led the way to the chapel.

"So what happened when Sunshine took you home?" he asked, whispering.

"Alan Bosley, you are no better than a girl. We're at church, and the Lord does not approve of gossip," she joked.

"I just want to know, I am your best friend you know," he supplied.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah… he took me for ice cream and nothing happened. Well something almost happened, but nothing actually did happen."

"Oh," he said.

"Yeah, but look, there's Gerry's mother, we should go say hello and thank her for the food from yesterday," she said.

They got up and walked over to the smiling woman. "Hello Mrs. Bertier, how are you?" Madison said politely, giving her a hug.

"Hey Mrs. B," Alan said.

"Why Maddie, you just get more beautiful every day," she said holding her out to look at her.

Madison grinned, "So do you Mrs. Bertier. Thank you so much for the food yesterday, especially for putting my special cheese in, you really didn't have to do that."

"Yeah Mrs. B, we really appreciate it," Alan added.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Bertier said, flicking her hand, "You two are like my children too, and I take care of my children. Now I've got to go find my seat, I'm sure Gerry is around here somewhere."

"Ok Mrs. B, and thanks again," Alan said.

"Will we see you at brunch?" Madison asked.

Mrs. Bertier smiled, "Maddie, I haven't missed a brunch in ages, and I don't plan to start now."

At brunch, Gerry came up to Madison, "So Maddie, how was the ride home with Sunshine, do I need to handle some things?"

Madison sighed, "Gerry, I think we've proven I can handle myself. Besides, there's nothing for you to handle. Now I know why I've never really had a boyfriend--- you scare them all off!"

Gerry gave one of his heart-melting smiles, knowing that seeing it, Madison would not be able to stay mad at him, "Oh now come on Maddie, you know it's only because I love you and want to protect you, you're like the little sister I never had."

She shot him a glare, "I'm only a few months younger than you, you know."

He grinned, "Ok, I get it. I promise to back off a little."

Knowing that's all she would ever get she raised her hands in defeat, "That's all I want."

He wrapped a joking arm around her neck as if he were going to mess up her hair, "Now come on sweet cheeks, let's get to the buffet before all of the good food gets taken."

She looked up at him and stuck out her tongue, "Oh it'll still be there because all of the football player hogs like you are still over here."

He put a hand over his heart, "That cut deep sweet cheeks, real deep."


	7. Chapter 7

**SO sorry it's taken so long to get this out, blame it totally on school. However, Winter Break is coming up and I promise that I will try to update more then! So thanks everyone for your amazing reviews and for reading and everything, it really keeps me going!**

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The next game was against Herndon. Madison noticed that the boys weren't playing with their usual intensity, especially Gerry. It was almost like the team was ripping apart at the seams. She knew that if they continued to play this way, they would never have a chance at the state title that everyone craved so much. The Titans still won with a score of 17 to 10, a little too close for comfort, especially since everyone knew they weren't playing to the best of their capabilities.

The following Monday at school was eventful to say the least. That morning, Madison was watching Sunshine do his morning Tai Chi through the window and laughing at some of the girls' comments.

"Oh he's so cute!"

"He's in my third period class."

Then Petey came by, "What y'all staring at old Sunshine for? I'm the one dominating on the field he aint played a minute all year."

"Who cares about the field."

Petey continued, "Well I don't want to be the one to break yawls hearts, but Sunshine is from California."

Madison had to hide her giggle.

"Yeah, a California dreamboat." replied one girl.

Madison laughed a little as Petey became frustrated, "No, Sunshine is from California, he's a Californian."

But then things took a turn for the worse and were no longer funny. One of the girl's boyfriend came over and hassled Petey for talking to her.

"You talking to my girl?" he asked Petey.

_If he knows what's good for him, he'll just shut up and walk away_. Madison thought to herself, knowing that with Petey, that would never happen.

"I don't see no livestock around here, so I don't know what you're talking about," Petey replied cooly.

Then some of that guy's friends grabbed Petey and slammed him into a locker, and that started an all out brawl. Madison ran to find Gerry or Julius, whomever she could get to first, so that they could break up the fight. She and Gerry got there around the same time as Julius.

"Maddie, stay back, you'll get hurt." Gerry said.

Madison just rolled her eyes, and didn't listen but jumped into the fight and tried to help break it up. When she was yanking on one guy to get him off of Petey, he threw his elbow back and it hit her in the lip, busting it. When everyone had cleared out, she tried to hide it from Gerry knowing that he would be mad.

"Come on Maddie, I'll walk you to class," he said, "I don't want you walking through the halls by yourself in case another riot like that breaks out."

"No, that's ok Gerry. I mean, it's kind of out of your way and I've got to go to my locker still…" she said with her back to him, wincing at the pain caused by talking.

"I don't want to hear it, I'll walk you to your locker and then to class," he said grabbing her by the shoulders to turn her around.

That's when he saw her lip, and the small amount of blood that was on her shirt from her trying to wipe it off.

"Madison, I told you to stay out of it!" he fussed at her.

She furrowed her eyebrows, "And since when have I ever really listened to you when I have made up my mind that I am going to do something?"

He sighed and lifted up her chin, "Well, whoever did that, they did a good job… let's get you to the nurse."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, Gerry it's just a busted lip, not a huge deal."

"You're listening to me this time," he said, grabbing her arm and yanking her down the hall to the clinic.

Explaining her unfortunate lip injury to the nurse wasn't bad, but Madison knew that the hard part would be explaining it to her father and the rest of the football team.

That afternoon, after cheerleading practice was over, instead of getting a ride home with one oc the cheerleaders, Madison went out to the practice field to watch the remainder of football practice.

She walked over to her dad and Coach Boone. "Hey Daddy, Coach Boone" she said sweetly.

Her father took one look at her, "Madison Leigh Yoast what happened to your lip?"

She pouted her already swollen bottom lip, "Dad it's not that big of a deal."

"What happened?" he asked sternly.

"There was a fight and I tried to help break it up," she explained.

"Madison, I told you not to get in the middle of things like that. Some of those guys easily weigh twice as much as you," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "I know that Daddy, but I probably would have gotten hit either way because of where I was standing, so I figured that I should of at least tried to fix it a little."

"Well, I can't blame you for trying," he said pulling her into a hug.

After practice was over Alan came over to her, Gerry had told him what happened.

"Whoa there slugger," he joked "I should have seen the other guy, huh?"

She wrinkled her nose, "Don't make me smile, it kinda hurts when I do that."

"So Gerry flipped huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, he definitely pulled the 'papa bear' routine, he was worse than my dad actually," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well here comes Sunshine and Julius, I have a feeling they may have some words for you," he said.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Hey," she stated, unsure what their reaction would be.

"Madison, I thought Gerry told you to stay back," Julius scolded her.

She let out a frustrated sigh and glared at Sunshine, "Don't tell me you're going to lecture me too."

"You guys are being ridiculous, I'm fine. So my lip is busted, no biggie," she said angrily.

"But it could have been worse, those guys are a lot bigger than you, Maddie. We just don't want you to get hurt, I don't want you to get hurt," Sunshine stated calmly.

"I know, and I'm sorry that I didn't listen. But sometimes I need to make my own mistakes," she said.

Julius lifted up her chin, "Man, he really got you good, whoever it was."

"Well there's only one cure for it," she said with a slight grin.

"What?" Sunshine asked.

"Milkshakes! All of us are going for milkshakes," she said excitedly.

Julius and Sunshine laughed.

"How you keep so skinny with all the milkshakes and ice cream, I'll never know," Julius joked.

**-------**

Later in the week a team meeting was called, on his way to the gym, Alan picked up Maddie since he knew she was home alone.

When they got there, they saw Louie and Blue standing in the middle of the gym.

"Alan, if this is a football thing, maybe I should go…" she whispered.

"Don't be dumb, Maddie. You're a part of this team too," he said wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

Madison watched as some players tried to leave after finding out that this impromptu meeting was not being called by their coaches.

"Hey, how y'all gonna walk out on your teammate like that? He says he's got something to say, y'all gotta listen," Julius said walking to stand in front of the gym doors.

"Turn around, turn around," Gerry scolded.

Maddie grinned, "There's papa bear" she whispered to Alan.

Maddie listened silently as Blue and Louie gave their speech. _Wow_ she thought _this is really intense. They're right though._ She had to suppress a giggle when Louie started singing.

When they all formed the huddle, Madison found herself being pushed into the middle. She was laughing and grinning. Then Gerry picked her up and set her on his shoulder and everyone hollered.

**-----**

The next day was the game. Madison was especially excited to see how the new warm-ups would go. She knew Grovetown would be tough, but if they beat them they were going to state. The boys were hungry for a state championship, so she just knew it would happen… no matter what. As the guys came out she started laughing hysterically. Her laughter only got worse when they started to warm up, and she had to sit down on the sidelines.

"Did you know they were planning this?" one of the cheerleaders asked her.

"Yeah, well, kind of. They told me they were going to do something different, but I didn't know it was going to be this different," she giggled. "Don't you love it though?"

"It sure is something," the other girl replied.

Things were going well for the Titans before tragedy struck. Ray let a lineman through and he his Rev, and he hit him hard. Madison just knew something was up. Rev wasn't getting up right away, either. _Come on, come on Rev, get up. You're fine, get up_. But he wasn't fine. He had hurt his wrist and he was stunned, laying there crying.

"What just happened?" Jessica asked.

Madison bit her lip, "I think he broke his wrist."

"Well what is going to happen now?" asked Jessica.

"They should take a timeout to figure out what to do, they could put in Sunshine, but he's not very good at throwing short passes."

She looked over at the sidelines and saw Coach Boone talking to Sunshine. _He better tell him something good, he's got to believe he can do this._

As he ran out to the huddle Madison said a silent prayer that everything would turn out alright. When he got there, before putting his helmet on, he turned and glanced at her. She smiled at him and mouthed, "You can do it" and gave him a thumbs up before he turned back to the huddle.

Madison watched as he called the play, not realizing that she was holding her breath the whole time. _He can do this, he can do this, he's got to do this. He can do this._ She watched as the ball was snapped and chewed on her bottom lip, then she saw him run back and throw the ball. Just as he released the ball, Madison saw the lineman coming up to tackle him _oh my God oh my God oh my God_. But then Sunshine bend down and stood up just as the lineman got on his back, sending the lineman into the air doing a flip.

She screamed, "Oh my God, did you see that?"

Jessica laughed, "Yes, he can play. Your boyfriend can play!"

Madison looked at her, "He's not my boyfriend, we're just friends. But you're right, he can play."

The Titans went on to win the game, and Madison couldn't have been more proud of Sunshine. While the boys were still on the field celebrating, Madison ran to her spot in front of the locker room to wait and congratulate them on the win, especially Sunshine.

When they approached, they were all riled up, hooting and hollering. Madison couldn't fight the wide smile that crept up to her lips. Her father and the other coaches had already gone into the locker room when she ran up to Sunshine. She jumped on him, her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist. He hugged her tightly.

"You were amazing!" she exclaimed over the cheers of the rest of the boys.

"Thank you," he said, smiling.

She took her bottom lip between her teeth, then he put a hand on each side of Sunshine's sweaty face and kissed him. Hearing the catcalls of the team she pulled away, both of their cheeks red with embarrassment.

"I should probably go…" she said.

"Yeah, um I'll see you later?" he asked.

"You bet." she grinned.

Madison walked out to the locker room for the cheerleaders.

"Where were you?" Jessica asked.

"You know I always go and congratulate the boys," she said.

Jessica eyed her up and down, "You kissed Sunshine didn't you?" she whispered.

Madison's eyes grew wide, but she tried to play it cool, "Where would you get that idea?"

Jessica raised an eyebrow, "Your lips are that 'I just got kissed hard' swollen and I know that it wouldn't have been anyone else, so you kissed him didn't you?"

Madison grinned, "Yes."

"And?" Jessica asked.

"And what?" Madison said raising an eyebrow.

"Well, dish, how was it?" Jessica demanded.

"I don't really know what came over me, I just ran up to him and jumped on him, which isn't really a huge deal, and we hugged. Then I told him that I thought he was amazing and then I kissed him. I grabbed his face and I kissed him," she said, blushing.

"In front of everyone?" Jessica asked, eyes wide.

"Well, I mean, my dad wasn't out there. But in front of the whole team, yeah," Maddie said.

"Girl you are too much," Jessica laughed.

**-----**

That night the team went to Al's for milkshakes and dinner, as requested by Madison. When they got there, they were all sitting at a table on one side of the restaurant when Ray walked in. Sunshine watched as both Gerry and Madison visibly stiffened. He grabbed her hand under the table and stroked the top of it with his thumb, calming her. And she was calm, until Ray came over.

"So Maddie, are you going to give it up to the queer now?" Ray asked. "Maybe you should show him how good you are."

She felt Sunshine stiffen.

"Ray, you'd better leave now," said Gerry menacingly.

"Oh look who we have here, Coach Coon's son," Ray glared.

"Ray. Leave. Now." said Madison.

"Why you little whore, so you can come back with me later?"

Madison slapped his face hard, "I am not a whore, and I will never go anywhere with you."

Ray grabbed her arm and yanked her back to him.

"Ray let her go now," said Sunshine threateningly.

"And just what are you going to do about it if I don't, you're just a fairy anyway," he shot back.

Ronnie just punched him in the face, almost certainly breaking his nose.

"Leave. Now." said Julius, "Or you'll have to worry about more than just a broken nose."

With a final glare Ray left and Madison looked up at the guys, "Thanks."

"He had no right to talk to you like that," Sunshine said.

"He's right, you let us know if he ever bothers you again," Julius added.

"I'm not really hungry anymore, I think I'd like to go home, or something. I just want to get out of here," she whispered.

Gerry looked at Sunshine, telling him without words to take her somewhere but he better be good. Sunshine nodded.

"Come on Maddie, I'll take you home," he said placing an arm around her shoulders.

The ride to her house was silent, when they pulled up to the driveway he walked around to let her out.

"Do you want to come inside? Dad's probably in his office, and Cheryl's over at a friend's," she asked quietly.

"Ok, if you think your dad won't mind," he said, walking her to the door.

"He won't," she said leading him into the living room.

"I can't stay for very long, though," he said.

"It's fine, just for a little while, though,"

"Don't worry about anything that Ray said," he comforted her, pulling her in for a tight hug.

"I know, I know. I just can't believe that he would even say things like that, it was all so untrue."

"Hey, we all knew he was just saying that to make us mad, don't worry about it. We all know none of what he said was true," he said lifting her face to look him in the eyes.

He leaned in and planted a sweet kiss on her lips.

"I probably should go," he said.

"Yeah," she reluctantly agreed.

She walked him to the door and gave him a small kiss goodbye.

"Bye Ronnie," she said, using his name.

"Bye Maddie," he said before closing the door and heading outside to his car.

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**So what did you think? Hopefully it was worth the way too long wait. Let me know and click that little review button!**


	8. Chapter 8

**So here's a new chapter that I wrote over the break, and I'm almost finished with the chapter that follows this one, so look for that within the next week or so. Thank you for being patient between my updates, but I do try to make them worthwhile. If there's anything, questions, comments, constructive critiques, please put them in a review!**

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The next weeks were filled with celebration and the team just being crazy as usual. Alan had gotten a video camera and was recording their antics in and out of the locker room.

Maddie's favorite part of one week had been when Sunshine tried to teach Blue some Tai Chi. She was learning too, but thought it was hilarious that Big Blue could be so graceful. Every time she would get into a pose, she would have to stifle a giggle.

One day, for revenge because of all of his taunting, Maddie made a football covered with double stick tape and wrote "DON'T DROP ME" in big, bold letters and presented it to Petey, sticking it on his jacket.

She loved the annual car beat-up. She helped the boys paint it, writing "HAWKS" all over it in spray paint. She was surprised when the boys gave her the honor of the first strike.

"Guys, this hammer is heavy…" she whined, knowing that she would shock the new boys with how she could swing it.

"Aww come on Baby Face, just hit the car," said Petey, using one of the many nicknames he had created for her.

Alan was standing back with Gerry, "How much do you think Petey is going to flip out when he sees what she can do?"

"I can't wait to see his face," said Gerry.

Maddie grabbed the hammer with both hands and brought it to the side, using all of her strength and her bodyweight to her advantage, she swung the hammer into the side of the car leaving a massive dent. Then she went around and busted the head and taillights before returning the hammer to Petey.

"Damn Miss Thang! I never thought you had it in you!" Petey exclaimed.

Sunshine was standing back with Julius, "Remind me never to make her mad," he murmured.

Julius gave a chuckle, "Yeah, 'cause there goes your car if you do!"

The Titans continued their winning streak. Everyone could tell that they were taking it in stride and really starting to loosen up. One game, they even danced with the cheerleaders. The dance ended with Gerry picking Maddie up over his head and spinning around.

Maddie watched in gross astonishment as the boys had eating contests at local restaurants that would serve them for free.

After one game, Coach Yoast came up to Sunshine.

"Good game," he said.

"Thanks," Sunshine replied.

"Ronnie, I know there is something between you and my daughter," he said sternly.

"Yes, sir," he said. "She is a very special girl."

"Yes she is," Coach Yoast agreed in a protective voice, "You're a good boy, and I've seen how happy she's been these past few weeks," he said, in a softer tone.

"What are you saying, Coach?" Sunshine asked.

"As long as you don't hurt her, we won't have a problem," he said.

"Don't worry, Coach. I'd never hurt her," Sunshine said.

"Well, good. As long as we're clear," he said.

"We're clear," said Sunshine.

"Oh and Sunshine?" asked Coach Yoast, "We're not going to say anything about this little chat to Madison, are we?"

"I wouldn't dream of it, Coach," Sunshine said with a smile.

"Good, because the last thing I need is her mad at me and terrorizing the house," Coach Yoast said with a chuckle.

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The next night was a banquet to announce the coaches nominated for the "Hall of Fame". Cheryl, Madison, and Coach Yoast all got dressed up for the occasion. After a long period of debate, Madison finally decided on a plum colored dress with three-quarter sleeves and a hemline that was just past knee length. The dress was simple, but classic and had a small belt around the middle to define a waistline. Cheryl, of course wanted to wear pants, but Madison put her foot down and Cheryl ended up in a dress.

The dinner was stuffy, and Madison grew tired of wearing her fake smile while being introduced to people that she would never be able to remember the names of. She made it look like she was having a good time though, so that she would not disappoint her father. Cheryl seemed to be having a great time, bragging about her father to all of the other attendees.

Madison was walking back from the bathroom when she heard her father and some other man talking.

"Heck of a season the Titans are having, Coach. Too bad it's got to end," said the man.

_What is he talking about? _Thought Madison. _We've still got another game and then state._

"Oh we're still in it Lyle, Taber's boys are pretty good, but I… I think we'll take them in the regional," said her father.

_Lyle… what's his last name? He's on the voting committee. _Thought Madison, struggling to remember his name from when they were introduced earlier.

"Well not if we have anything to say about it," said Lyle.

Madison felt herself getting madder by the second, her boys had worked so hard and now the voting committee was trying to use her father's possible position in the Hall of Fame as blackmail to get them to lose? _I could just punch him right now._

"You just leave this to us, Bill. Boone's out and you're head coach again. And all roads lead to the Hall of Fame," Lyle told her father.

Madison had heard enough, she knew her father was an honest man so he wouldn't fall to his offer, but if the committee was going to be that way, then the Hall of Fame was more like a Hall of Shame to her and she wanted no part of it.

After they had gotten home, Madison went out to her father's office to talk to him.

"Daddy?" she asked.

"Yes sweetheart," he said, motioning for her to have a seat.

"I heard you and Lyle talking," she said.

"You did," he said.

"You're not going to lose at regional are you? I mean, if the Hall of Fame is going to be like that, then it's not worth being in it anyway. It's corrupt, Daddy. Why would you want to be a part of something like that?" she asked.

"I don't," he said, "Well, not now anyway, but I've wanted to be in the Hall for a long time. And Cheryl, she wants it more than anyone I know."

"Yeah, I know, and I've wanted the Hall too… but Dad, now it just seems so, so dirty," she said.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I won't let it interfere with the boys, I know how hard they've worked… we've all worked to get to state and I'm not going to let it go without a fight. State is important to this town, to the school, to the team, and more important to me than getting in the Hall," he said, squeezing her hand.

------

The regional game was tough and the referees calling bogus penalties didn't make things any easier for the Titans. Every time a penalty was called, Madison had to bite her tongue to avoid getting an "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty for the team. Cheryl however, made her discomfort known to all of Virginia with the way she was shouting.

Finally, her father walked out to the field and talked to the referee. When he game back to the sidelines, Petey walked away and Alan was put in. When she saw her boys take the field, she knew whatever her father said must have had an impact because they were playing a hundred times better. And when Gerry went up to the opposing team's coach and pointed at him, she knew there was no way in hell the Titans were going to lose this game. With every touchdown scored, Madison grew louder. Cheering the boys on. When the game was won by a massive margin she knew there was going to be a lot of celebration that night.

When they got back up to her school, she went up to Sunshine.

"If you don't mind, I've got to talk to Gerry about something… but I'll meet you later at your house ok?" she asked.

"Is everything ok? What do you need to talk to him about?" he said looking at her, concerned.

"Yeah, everything's fine. It's just about my dad and the Hall of Fame and stuff. I just want to tell Gerry first, but I'll tell you what's going on tonight, I promise," she said.

"Ok," he said, "I'll be waiting for you." He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"You played wonderfully out there today by the way," she said giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Thanks," he said.

"I should go find Gerry," she said, "I want to catch him before he leaves."

"Yeah," he said, "Bye." He lifted her up in the air and gave her a hug.

She loved his hugs, "Bye," she said, kissing him on the cheek before he set her down.

When she found Gerry, he was talking to Emma. He started to walk away, but Madison ran up to him.

"Gerry, can I get a ride with you? I need to talk to you," she said.

"Are you ok? Did Sunshine do anything?" he asked, his protective streak showing.

"No, no, nothing like that," she said.

"Well what?" he asked.

"Can we go to the old field and talk about it?" she said, biting her bottom lip.

"Sure," he said, "Anything for you."

They got in the car and were driving out of the school.

"Great game by the way," she said, "I'm so excited about state, we're going to win, I can feel it."

"Yeah, I know, we've come too far to let it all come to waste. Besides, it's my senior year, do you think I'm going to let this pass by?" he said smiling.

"Not in a million years," she said.

They were driving through town smiling, waving, and on occasion, laughing at those who were cheering and their antics.

"Look at you superstar, it's like you're Elvis or something," she said, still laughing.

He laughed back, "I know, how does it feel to be in the company of greatness?" He asked her.

She just busted out laughing.

They were driving around the square when Gerry revved his engine so that he could screech his tires. Madison saw the truck first and screamed the most blood-curdling scream anyone has ever heard before she blacked out from hitting her head on the window next to her.


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter seemed to take forever, so I'm sorry that it's not my best. But anyway, here's an update and it's not as far in between as they have been, so be happy about that!**

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Julius came to the hospital as soon as he found out; he burst through the door to see the whole team in the waiting room. Everyone had on somber faces Sunshine had his head in his hands and Coach Yoast and Gerry's mother were crying.

Coach Boone walked up to him.

"He ain't alright? He alright?" Julius asked in a voice that was a higher pitch than that of his normal voice.

"He's umm," started Coach Boone.

"How's he doing?" Julius asked. He still didn't know that Madison had been in the car.

"Not too good, not too good," said Coach Boone.

"No, how's he doing? How bad is it?" whispered Julius.

"He's paralyzed from the waist down," said Coach Boone, "And Madison was in the car with him."

"How's she doing?" he asked.

"She's still unconscious, but the doctors think she'll be fine, she'll just have a severe concussion" said the older man.

"Don't say that to me," said Julius, it was all too much for him.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Bertier, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said, looking from her to Coach Yoast.

"He doesn't want to see anyone but you, Julius," she said.

"Yes, ma'am," Julius replied, crying.

"You're strong," whispered Mrs. Bertier, "Those tears aren't going to make my boy walk again."

Julius walked to Gerry's room and noticed that there was a curtain dividing the room in half and it was slightly pushed back. He saw the nurse in there, standing over Gerry.

"Only kin is allowed in here," she said.

"Alice," said Gerry, "You blind? Don't you see the family resemblance? That's my brother."

"Alright," said Alice softly before pushing back the curtain some more to tend to the other patient.

As he walked closer inside Julius saw that the other patient was a brunette girl, he realized that it was Maddie.

Gerry lifted his fist.

"Oh man," muttered Julius.

"If you think I look banged up you should se my car," he joked. Then he turned serious, "I just hope Maddie is going to be ok, she hasn't woken up yet," he said motioning to the curtain.

"I sure am sorry man, I should have been there with you," Julius said. "I'm stronger than Maddie, I wouldn't be lying there in that bed, it is my fault she's hurt."

"What are you talking about, it's not your fault," Gerry said.

"And you. You can't be hurt like this," said Julius, "You…you're Superman."

Gerry started to cry, "I was afraid of you Julius, I only saw what I was afraid of. And now I know I was only hating my brother."

Madison started to open her eyes a little, but they didn't notice.

"I'll tell you what though, when all this is over, me and you are going to move out to the same neighborhood together. Ok and um, we're going to get old, and fat. It ain't always going to be all this black and white between us," Julius said, fighting back some tears.

"Left side," Gerry whispered.

"Strong side," said Julius.

When Madison opened her eyes fully and didn't recognize where she was, she freaked out a little bit, thrashing against the bed. "What happened, where am I?" she said crying.

"Maddie," said Gerry, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. You're in the hospital, we…we got in a car accident."

She was crying harder, "My head hurts, I want my Daddy. Where's Sunshine? I promised I would go over to his house tonight."

Julius walked over to her, squeezing her hand, "They're all outside waiting on you to wake up, and you need to calm down. I'll go get the nurse and your Dad."

When the nurse came, she was moved into a separate room.

Then her father came into the new room.

"Daddy," moaned Madison, "When can I go home?"

"The doctor said he wants to keep you here over night to make sure everything is ok. You hit your head pretty hard," he said.

"I'm not staying here tonight, I promised Sunshine I would go over to his house and listen to some music and maybe watch a movie. I never break a promise," she said.

"Baby, Sunshine is outside, he'll understand. The most important thing for you to do is get some sleep," he said. "Do you want me to stay here the night? I need to find a sitter for Cheryl."

"No, you stay with her. I'll be fine," she said.

"Ok sweetie," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead, "I'll go outside so they can send Sunshine in."

When Sunshine walked in, he was holding a stuffed teddy bear. "I brought this for you," he said, handing it to her.

"Thank you," she said and patted the side of her bed for him to sit down.

"I was really worried about you, you know. You were out for at least twenty minutes," he said, taking her hand into his and stroking the top of it with his thumb.

"I'm sorry that I had to break our date," she said.

"It's alright," he said, "I'm just glad you're ok. Is Coach staying here tonight with you?" he asked.

"No. I told him to go home to Cheryl, she's probably fit to be tied," Maddie said looking up at him.

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

"I can't ask you to do that Ronnie, you just played a hard game, you need to go get some sleep in a comfortable bed," she said, bringing up her hand to cup his cheek.

"Maddie… I want to stay; I want to make sure that everything is going to be all right. You scared me tonight, like I've never been scared before," he said.

"You can stay if you want to, but don't feel like you have to, I mean I won't be alone, Gerry is here," she said, motioning to the other occupant of the room.

"I'm staying, I'm sure your father will feel better to know that someone is staying too," he said, "Do you need anything? Are you hungry?" he asked.

"I'm always hungry," she joked, "But they're not supposed to let you bring in any outside food to us."

Sunshine smiled, "But you've forgotten one thing."

"Oh yeah, what is that?" she asked.

"I can charm the pants off of anyone," he grinned. "So what do you want? The usual? Double cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Will you bring in the same for Gerry? I mean, if you can manage it," she said.

"Not a problem," he said, "Is there anyone you'd like me to send in?"

She looked at him, "Alan."

Alan walked in, "I thought we were the Three Musketeers," he joked. "And now you go and do this without me, now I see where I stand in this relationship."

"Oh Alan," Maddie laughed, "Thank you for making me laugh. I needed it."

Alan took a seat on Madison's bed, "So String Bean, how are you feeling?"

"I'm ok; my head hurts really bad though. It probably looks worse than it actually is," she said.

"Yeah," he said. "I think you should make up a better story to tell people though, like you nearly got trampled by an elephant or stopped a robbery or something," he joked.

"What about Gerry, how's Gerry? I asked the nurse but she wouldn't tell me," she said seriously.

"Maddie, he…it's bad Maddie, really bad," he said.

He watched as her eyes welled up with tears, "What's wrong, tell me! He's awake, he's fine," she said.

"Maddie, he's paralyzed from the waist down, he can't use his legs anymore," he said.

The tears in her eyes finally started to fall, "No, the doctor is wrong. This is Gerry we're talking about, he never gets hurt."

Alan just wrapped her in a hug, rubbing her back, "But he's alive, that's all that matters. He's alive and you're alive."

"It should have been me," she cried, "Football is Gerry's life… what is he going to do now?"

"Don't say that, Maddie. Besides, if you had been driving you would have been killed, you're not as strong as he is. They have Olympics for people in wheelchairs. Gerry can be an Olympic Athlete," Alan said.

Then Sunshine walked back through the door, food in hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Maddie looked up at him, tears in her eyes, "It's Gerry, he's… he's paralyzed."

Sunshine ran his hand through his hair, "But he was moving when I went in there."

"It's only from the waist down," said Alan.

"He can't walk," Maddie sniffled.

"Well I think we should go see him," said Sunshine.

"But they told me not to leave this room," said Maddie.

"I'll distract the younger nurse, you get her in there," said Alan.

Once the plan was in place Alan went up to the nurse's station and started flirting heavily with the new nurse. Then Sunshine eased Maddie into a wheelchair (under her strong protests that she could walk) and wheeled her into Gerry's room. Then Sunshine came back out and made some excuse to the young nurse to get Alan back to Gerry's room.

"Hey Gerry," said Maddie softly, putting her hand on top of his.

"Hey Maddie, I'm really sorry about all this," he said.

"Oh Gerry, it's not your fault, sometimes these things just happen," she forced a smile. "I had Sunshine bring you the Maddie special."

Gerry offered a sad smile, "Thanks, I hate hospital food."

It was awkward in the room, to say the least.

But leave it to Alan to lighten the mood. He looked at Sunshine, "So when are you going to ask permission so that you can propose? Because you know, not only do you have to ask Coach, but you have to ask us too."

Maddie felt her eyes bug out of her head and her face turn about a billion different shades of red.

Sunshine tried to play it cool, but his breath caught in his throat and he nearly choked.

Gerry laughed at their stunned faces.

Once everyone heard his laugh, they knew everything was going to be okay. Gerry had one of those infectious laughs, soon they were all laughing. Then that pesky older nurse came down the hall and saw all of them.

She eyed Maddie, "Young lady, you need to get back to your room. And young men, if you're not staying then you need to leave, and if you are staying you need to quiet down."

Maddie kissed Gerry on the cheek, "I'll see you later, okay?" Then she gave Alan a hug.

"What, no kiss for me? There you go again, leaving me out," he joked.

She giggled and kissed him on the cheek before moving over to Sunshine and waving a final goodbye. She held Sunshine's hand as they walked back across the hall to her room.

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**As always... reviews help me improve and keep writing. Thanks everyone for reading/favoriting/reviewing/alerting it is greatly appreciated, especially since this is my first ever story on here!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So it might be a little bit until the next chapter, but I know exactly how I want it to end, I've just got to put some more in-between stuff. But it's quickly drawing to a close, so thanks to those who have stuck with me. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!**

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Sunshine helped her into bed, much to her protests.

"Ronnie, I'm not hurt, I can do this myself," she whined, swatting at his hands.

"You have a concussion, you were out cold for well over an hour," he reminded her.

She continued to fuss with him, "I'm fine, I don't even know why they're making me stay, it's just silly."

"Just let me help you because I love you," he said.

Her eyes grew wide, "What did you say?"

"Let me help you," he said, easing her back into the bed and tucking her under the covers.

"No, after that," she said, slowly.

"I… I said that, I love you," he said.

"You… you love me?" she asked, looking him deep in the eyes.

"Yeah, Madison Yoast, I love you," he said, more confidently.

"I love you too," she said looking up at him, tears welling up in her eyes.

He said on the side of her bed and kissed her forehead, "Now don't you go off and cry on me."

She sniffed, "I'm sorry, it's just been a rough day, a lot to take in."

He kissed each of her eyelids gently, "I was so worried about you today. Worried that I wasn't going to get to see you again. That's when I realized it," he explained.

"I realized it today, laying in the bed when the only person I wanted to see was you, I love you Ronnie Bass," she said, leaning up slightly to kiss his lips tenderly.

"I love you too," he said before stroking her hair and kissing her on the forehead. "But now you need to get some sleep so they'll let you out of here tomorrow."

"You're right," she said, before closing her eyes.

He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips before moving a chair right next to her bed and settling down to get some sleep.

"Ronnie?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Hold my hand?" she asked.

"Of course," he said, taking her smaller hand into his, then he began to stroke the top of her hand with his thumb.

"Goodnight," she whispered.

"Goodnight," he repeated.

While Maddie was sleeping she began to remember the events of that night.

_She saw herself talking to Sunshine then running over to Gerry to find him. She stopped him and talked for a minute or two before getting in the car with him. Then her dream flashed forward and she saw the headlights come towards them and realized they weren't stopping. She let out a scream "Gerry!" before hearing the metal crunch and her head was sent smashing into the window. She remembered floating in and out of conscious several times and feeling trapped. _

She began thrashing around in the bed and murmuring "No, no… help me… Gerry. Help us, please."

Her movement woke Sunshine up instantly and he gently shook her.

"Maddie, Maddie, wake up… it's just a dream," his heart broke for her when he saw her tears.

"This is my fault," she whimpered.

"Oh honey," he whispered, "It's not your fault."

"If I hadn't have stopped Gerry to talk to him none of this would have happened, he would have been out of the way before that truck came," she said.

"Shhh, this is not your fault. It's nobody's fault," he said, comforting her and rubbing her arm.

"Ronnie?" she asked sniffling.

"Yes baby?" he said, waiting to hear what she wanted to ask.

"Will you sit up here with me? At least until I go to sleep," she asked with tears in her eyes.

"I don't know if I should… I mean what if someone…" he started, but she cut him off.

"Please. It will help me sleep, I know it will," she said, looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Ok, you know I can't say no to you. But just until you go to sleep, alright?" he said.

"Ok," she said, sliding over in the small bed.

As Sunshine was laying there, holding her, he was thinking to himself. _I've only known her for a football season, but after this, I know that I love her. I do, I love her. _Soon he felt her breathing even out and he carefully slid out of bed and returned to the chair. He was going to try to go to sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him. All he could think about was her. Finally, he got up, raked his hands through his hair, kissed her forehead, and walked to Gerry's room. He knocked softly on the door before going inside.

Sunshine looked at Gerry, "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Gerry smiled, "I should say the same to you."

"Gerry, I… I told Maddie I loved her," Sunshine said.

Gerry smiled even wider, "I knew you did. She loves you too, you know. I've known her forever and I've never seen her as happy as she is with you."

"But there's something I want to talk to you about…" he said.

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The next morning, Maddie woke up and smiled when she saw Sunshine in the chair beside her. He felt her gaze and started to stir.

"Morning," he said, trying to stretch out of his uncomfortable position.

She raised her bed into a seated position, "I'm sorry you had to sleep in that chair."

He kissed her forehead softly, "It wasn't too bad. I didn't sleep a whole lot."

"Why? Couldn't get comfortable?" she asked.

"Something like that, and I kept checking on you to make sure you were ok," he said.

Minutes later, Cheryl burst through the door with a bouquet of flowers.

"Sissy, are you ok?" she asked.

Maddie patted the bed, telling Cheryl to sit down, "I'm fine."

She had tears in her eyes, "I thought you were… you were…"

Maddie hugged her little sister in close, "I told you I would never leave you, remember? You're stuck with me kiddo."

"I was so scared," said Cheryl.

Then her father walked into the room, "We all were scared, but everything is going to be just fine."

"Can I talk to Cheryl for a minute… alone?" Maddie asked, looking first to her father, then to Sunshine.

Her father nodded, "Sure, anything you want." Then kissed her forehead and Cheryl's before leaving the room.

Sunshine kissed her forehead and left too, shutting the door behind him.

"Cheryl, wanna know a secret?" Maddie asked her little sister.

Cheryl's eyes grew wide, "A secret! What's it about?"

"You have to promise not to tell," Maddie said, sticking up her pinkie finger for Cheryl to take.

"Oh I pinkie swear," Cheryl said.

Maddie motioned for Cheryl to come closer and whispered in her ear, "Sunshine said 'I love you' to me last night."

"Really?" Cheryl exclaimed.

"Yes, really," Madison nodded smiling.

"So you're going to get married and live happily ever after?" Cheryl got more excited.

Madison laughed, "Nobody said anything about getting married."

"But that's how it happens in the storybooks," Cheryl said, matter-of-factly.

"But this isn't a storybook," said Maddie.

"You should still get married, I like Sunshine, he'd make a good brother," Cheryl said.

While the two girls were talking, Sunshine peeked in the window, "Look at them Coach, it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

"What do you think they're talking about?" the older man said.

"I have no idea, but it must be interesting," Sunshine said.

"Must be," said Coach Yoast.

Sunshine cleared his throat, "Coach? There's something that I want to talk to you about…"


	11. Chapter 11

**So this is the final chapter, thanks to everyone who has stuck with me through the sporadic updates, the not so great chapters, and my first ever story. I really appreciate all of the reviews and everything, it made my entire day to get the email saying there was a new review. Thank you for making my first experience with fanfiction an enjoyable one, and if you should want to read other things from me, I have some others in the works, but I want to finish my Four Brothers piece first. But to give you some hints, I'm working on one for the TV show _Supernatural _as well as the movies _Friday Night Lights, Miracle, Lords of Dogtown,_ and possibly some others. Anyway, thanks again for sticking with me, I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy the final chapter.**

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Madison was allowed to go home later that day. The nurses made her get in a wheelchair to go out to the car.

"Oh come on, I can walk… I didn't break my legs!" she said to the nurse, frustrated.

Her father just chuckled, "Quit being so hard-headed, Maddie, just do what they say, the sooner you do it, the sooner you'll be home."

"I don't get why I have to ride in this stupid thing, give me a break," she said starting to get up.

"Now Madison, honey, this is just standard procedure," the nurse said, beginning to grow tired of her complaints.

"Well this standard procedure is crummy, you should give this wheelchair to someone who will needs it," said Madison, shooting a glare at the nurse.

When she heard her boyfriend give a little laugh from behind her she crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't see what's so funny, Ronald."

This only caused him to laugh harder, "You are, sweetheart."

"Stop laughing, or I'll give you cause to need one of these," she said pointing at the wheelchair.

The next day Madison returned to the hospital with her father and Cheryl to be with Gerry, when she walked in, she saw the rest of the team sitting in the small room.

"How did all of you get in here?" she asked.

Alan smiled, "Elementary, my dear Maddie," and looked at Gerry.

Gerry smiled, "Good old fashioned charm."

Madison laughed out loud, "You're too much," and went to sit next to Alan and Petey.

Cheryl had brought a football player figurine for Gerry, she pitched a fit to go to the store and buy something special, and when nothing was found, she brought something of her own to give to him.

"Is this for me?" Gerry asked.

Cheryl nodded with big tears in her eyes. To her, as well as the rest of the team, Gerry was Superman and seeing him hurt not only saddened her, but scared her too.

"I want you to be my eyes out there, alright? If any of these guys slack off, you just let me know," he said softly to her.

Madison reached down and grabbed Alan's hand to keep from crying at the exchange between her little sister and her best friend who had become her pseudo-big brother.

"You bet I will," the little girl replied before moving over to sit with her sister.

Madison watched as her father took a seat next to Gerry, who had always been like a son to him.

"How you doing Gerry?" the older man asked. Madison was surprised he didn't say "son" like he usually did when speaking to Gerry and Alan.

"Alright, Coach. I was talking to these guys about Marshall…" Gerry started, but Coach Yoast interrupted him.

"You know, we don't need to talk about football right now Gerry. I think this is a good time for reflection, and for prayer…" he started, but Gerry interrupted him.

"Coach, I'm hurt. I a'int dead," Gerry said in a serious tone.

Both men smiled, "No, you're not. No you're not," the older man said.

Gerry looked down at the figurine Cheryl gave him, "You know I've been reading up on the activities they've got for people in wheelchairs and such… they've got Olympics."

Madison knew as soon as she heard that, Gerry was going to be just fine. She knew that as long as Gerry had something to work towards, whether it be a state championship or an Olympic gold medal, Gerry would still be the 'Gerry' she knew and loved as a member of her own family.

Soon after that little meeting, was the State Championship Game, this time Madison was going to be watching from the stands instead of the sidelines because the doctor said it would be best for her to not cheer. But she was fine with that, glad to be able to watch a game with her little sister like old times. Cheryl and Madison rode to Roanoke Stadium with Mrs. Bertier.

"This game sure is going to be different," said Cheryl.

"Yes, dear, it is. But if I know your father and the rest of the team, they're going to pull through. They're going to win this one for Gerry," said Mrs. Bertier.

"I'm glad you decided to come," Madison said, looking over at the woman who had become a mother-figure to her.

"I haven't missed a game since Gerry has been on the team, he wanted me to be here," she said, taking Madison's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, "I'm glad you two girls are here with me."

The ride to the stadium was comfortably silent when the trio weren't talking about fond memories of other football seasons.

"So what's this I hear about you and that Bass boy?" asked Mrs. Bertier.

"He told Maddie he loved her," piped up Cheryl.

Madison turned back to Cheryl, "I told you, that was going to be our secret."

"Did you know that Gerry's father asked me to marry him at Homecoming our senior year?" asked Mrs. Bertier.

"No ma'am," said Madison, "But I knew you were married not long after graduation."

Mrs. Bertier gave a soft smile, "That was one of the happiest days of my life, I can only hope you two will feel that happiness one day."

When they arrived to the stadium, the three got out of Mrs. Bertier's car.

"You two go on in and get a spot next to Coach Boone's wife, I'll only be a minute," said Mrs. Bertier.

When they got into the stadium, it was kind of hard to find Coach Boone's family.

"There they are!" said Cheryl pointing before taking off down the steps.

"Cheryl," said Madison running after her, "Don't run down the steps, you could fall."

When they reached Mrs. Boone they were both laughing.

"My goodness, girls, you shouldn't run down the stairs," said Mrs. Boone, hugging both of the girls.

"That's what I tried to tell her!" said Madison.

Then they started hearing clapping and turned to see Mrs. Bertier entering the stands. She came down and hugged Mrs. Boone just before the Titans took the field.

Madison squeezed Cheryl's hand tightly at the kickoff. After a minute or two of play, Madison noticed Emma down on the sidelines.

"What is she doing?" she asked Cheryl.

Both girls watched as she shook Julius's hand before returning to the stands.

When she saw the opposing team line up in a new formation she turned to Cheryl.

"Look at that! What in the world…" Madison started.

"They're doing a shotgun, who do they think they are? This isn't the pros!" said Cheryl dramatically.

When their opponent scored, Cheryl and Madison both shot up out of their seats letting it be known to the Titan fans as well as the players that they were not happy. Both girls watched, not realizing they were holding their breaths, as Sunshine threw what looked to be a perfect pass; when it was blocked they were up again yelling at their father and Coach Boone to do something.

At the end of the half, Cheryl took off for the locker room with Madison trailing close behind.

"Cheryl, you can't go back there!" Madison shouted.

"I just need to tell coach something!" Cheryl shouted back.

"Coach!" said Cheryl, trying to get her father's attention.

"Girls, you better get back to your seats," he said.

"I can't coach. Ed Henry's got Blue's number sure as shootin'. You a'int doing nothing against that shotgun," said Cheryl.

"She's right daddy," said Madison, "Now a'int the time to be proud."

"Ok girls," he said, kissing both of their cheeks, "Now you two go get up in the stands."

When the second half began, both girls noticed a change in their team. Madison saw Alan give his spot on the line of scrimmage to Petey.

She looked down at Cheryl, "Oh Mr. Bosley is sure to be fit to be tied."

Cheryl just grinned, "Alan did the right thing."

The pair watched the game as the Titans played with renewed vigor. Madison felt like everyone else in the stands disappeared and it was just her and Cheryl screaming for the team. They laughed as they watched Coach Boone fuss at the referee.

"I hope Gerry is watching," said Madison.

"Are you kidding," said Cheryl, "He wouldn't miss this for the world."

Just then Petey landed an awesome play. They watched as Rev was put in.

"His arm is still hurt," said Madison.

"He's going to run," said Cheryl, "I can't watch," she covered her eyes with one hand and grabbed her sister's with the other, squeezing tightly.

When Rev scored, Madison grabbed her sister and picked her up, twirling her around before running out onto the field with her in tow. They both ran to their father.

"Daddy!" they yelled, all but tackling him in big hugs.

He picked Cheryl up and she kissed his cheek. Madison was still hugging him and she kissed his cheek too.

"You did it Daddy!" Madison exclaimed.

"No, sweetheart, we did it. All of us, the team, the coaches, the town, everyone," he said, "Now go find Sunshine, I'm sure he's looking for you."

When Madison finally found Sunshine, he was celebrating among the rest of the players. She jumped into his arms and he spun her around giving her a solid kiss on the lips.

"Congratulations!" Madison exclaimed.

"I love you!" he said.

"I love you too!" she said, as he picked her up once more.

Then he did the unexpected, he got down on one knee, "Madison Yoast, I know we haven't been together for long. But this has been the happiest time of my life, and I know it's because of you. Will you marry me?"

Madison turned to Alan, "Did he just say what I think he said?"

Alan just smiled and bobbed his head up and down.

"Yes, Ronnie Bass. I'll marry you!" she shouted as he got up and picked her up in another big hug, taking her over to the sidelines to retrieve her ring from his bag.

Cheryl's POV:

The Titans danced their way into history 13-0, the perfect season; state champions, and first runners-up for the national championship; second best high school team in the country. Gerry Bertier won a gold medal for the shot put in the wheelchair games; Daddy coached him. My sister and Sunshine got married after graduating college and now have two children, fraternal twins actually, a boy and a girl: William Gerry Bass (named after Daddy and, of course, Gerry), and Julianne Alayna Bass (named after Julius and Alan). Ten years later, Gerry died, and that's what brought us back here today.

Nobody's POV

The entire Titans team were standing at the gravesite, Madison was holding onto Sunshine with an arm wrapped around her little girl, Julianne; Ronnie was holding little William's hand. Madison let go and walked up to the casket with Cheryl, her now grown-up little sister to lay a rose on the smooth black surface before returning back to the crowd of people. Then Julius started humming and eventually singing a song that was sung so happily all those years ago, now it was much more somber as everyone joined in.

"Na na na na, na na na na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye."

As they walked away, Madison kissed her fingertips and pointed her hand out towards the casket, saying goodbye to her 'big brother' one last time. After she had walked away she felt someone tug on her skirt.

"Mama, is Uncle Gerry coming back?" Julianne asked.

Madison bent down, picked up her daughter and hugged her tightly, "No honey, Uncle Gerry's not coming back. He's in heaven now with the angels."

"I'll miss him," the little girl said, "But he told me he'd always look out for me and Will, so he's going to look out for us in heaven."

Madison hugged her daughter, "That's right baby, he sure is. He'll be your guardian angel."

The little girl kissed her mother's cheek, "Is it ok if I go give Mimi a hug?" she asked, using her name for Mrs. Bertier.

"It's always ok to give someone a hug, take your brother with you," said Madison.

Ronnie came over to his wife, "I heard what Jules said," he told her, using his nickname for their daughter. "We have two amazing children, Mrs. Bass," he said wrapping her in a big hug.

"Yes we do, Mr. Bass," she replied.

"I never told you, but I asked Gerry if I had his permission to propose before I asked your father, I asked him that night in the hospital," he said.

"You did? I had no idea," she said.

"He told me that if I didn't ask, he would run me over with his chair," her husband said with a sad chuckle, "That was when I decided to ask you if we won state."

The next day, Sunshine, Madison, and the kids were still in town, staying with Coach Yoast. All of the Titans were over at the house for supper, just like the after camp ritual. They had all finished eating and were playing football in the yard. Madison and Mrs. Bertier were watching and Cheryl was playing with Julianne, William was out playing football with all of his "uncles", his grandfather, and his father.

Mrs. Bertier smiled as William tried to tackle Alan to the ground, "He's a lot like Gerry. I remember the first time Gerry played football, watching William reminds me so much of that."

Madison placed her hand on top of Mrs. Bertier's, "I don't think there is anyone else who I'd rather him grow up to be like. I can only hope that he'll do as many great things as Gerry did. That's why Ronnie and I named him after Gerry."

"He was so proud of that," Mrs. Bertier said.

"I'm glad that I could have done something to make him happy. I found out today that if it weren't for Gerry, Ronnie might not have proposed when he did and my life might not have ended up like this," Madison said, "I will thank my lucky stars every day for everything Gerry has done for me, he's my saving grace."

The two women watched as the boys played football when Cheryl came back with Julianne and they both started yelling at the boys.

Madison giggled, "Oh no, we've got another Cheryl on our hands."

Mrs. Bertier laughed, "You did it too, you yelled at them when they messed up. She's just like you, he's just like Gerry, but more laid back like his father, and his hair, he definitely gets that from his father, Gerry would never grow his hair out like that. Looking at the two of them together reminds me of how you and Gerry acted together."

Madison smiled, "I wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
